[JamesLeonis]

Maybe it's just me, but this seems to be in response to an earlier HN post about the entrepreneur prodigy [1] as well as a vague stab at the 10x programmer myth.

[1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4140048

Largely though "Norman" is more attractive than "John" to businesses because he displays strong signals both in talent and work ethic. "John" might be a hard worker and have talent himself, but because he has no obvious projects or other public displays of talent his signal to employers is weak. What "John" needs is something that sends a comparatively strong signal. In a way, this sounds like a call to action to figure out how programmers can build a sufficiently strong signal for employers to see. How do we separate the signal from the noise?

Interestingly, this signalling problem arises with employers as well. Look how many articles are posted here about "How to attract the best talent."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_(economics)

[vonmoltke]

That Norman is more attractive than John is not in question. The contention is that many companies want a Norman and so will pass over a John, even when a Norman is not available (hence creating the perception of a shortage). Furthermore, these companies usually do not need a Norman; a John would work out fine.

A number of posters in this thread assert that anyone who can write code competently[0] can get a job in this economy. I personally, as with the OP, don't see that. I see two broad groupings of companies[1]. The first group only wants Normans or near-Normans, and complain that there are not enough of them to fill their slots. The second group is happy with Johns, but drops a laundry list of (sometimes conflicting) skills and experience requirements that filter out almost all of the Johns, and then complains that there are not enough of them to fill their slots. I have also encountered an overlapping subgroup of companies willing to compromise somewhat for local candidates.

Unfortunately its difficult to move beyond anecdotes on this matter. I have some that support the OP's point, many here have some that refute it. It would be really interesting to see distrbutions of these anecdotes by geography, experience level, and undergrad program, though.

[0] "Competently" goes beyond writing FizzBuzz in this case. [1] I am not asserting that every company falls into one or the other; my current one does not, though my previous one does. I'm asserting that most do.